Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jake Arrieta is greeted in the dugout by pitching coach Chris Bosio, left, after pitching in the seventh inning of the Cubs’ baseball game against the San Francisco Giants on Friday, May 20, 2016, .
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In an effort to snap out of his 1-for-19 skid on this trip, Anthony Rizzo will bat second for the first time this season as the Cubs try to win the third and deciding game of this three-game series at San Francisco.
The win was the Cubs’ 22nd in a row in a game started by Arrieta, matching the second-longest streak in the history of baseball.
Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute.
I suppose it was a bad omen when Matt Cain doubled in the first runs of the game. He shut down the Cubs pretty well in his only start against them a year ago, August 27 in San Francisco, allowing just two hits over six innings, striking out 12.
Cain (1-5) worked six innings to close out a winless streak that dated back to July 2015 and included eight losses.
“You want to go out there and give your team a chance to win”, Cain said.
The under is 21-7-4 in the Cubs last 32 Sunday games and the over is 8-3-1 in their last 12 road games while Chicago are 41-16 in their last 57 overall. Matt Cain earned his first win of the season, while Jon Lester took the loss to fall to 4-3. Doom? Maybe. Current Cubs are hitting.244 (29-for-119) against Bumgarner with three home runs: one each by Jason Heyward, David Ross and Tim Federowicz.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon doesn’t consider these series measuring sticks, litmus tests or anything else so conclusive. “Jonny had a tough day. We had a couple of opportunities to score”. The Giants’ second baseman went 2-for-4 with his seventh double of the year. “I think I got lucky and ran into one there”.
Mets 3, Brewers 2: Steven Matz allowed three hits over seven strong innings Friday and Michael Conforto laced the go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning as the New York Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2.
Kris Bryant crushed a home run to center field in the third inning, but that was the only mistake that cost Cain while he scattered six hits in six innings.
Dexter Fowler led off the ninth with a solo home run to right – his fifth the season – off reliever Santiago Casilla to make it 5-3.
Cain’s double ended a drought of 46 hitless at-bats going back to May 10, 2014 (he singled off Zack Greinke, then with the Dodgers). Against the Blue Jays on May 10, Cain tied a season-high with seven strikeouts and pitched eight innings for the first time since August 2013. Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he noticed Pence hobbling after hustling down the line earlier this week in San Diego and that Pence confirmed that he’s experiencing soreness on his lower right hamstring. Hendricks, who has been terrific for the Cubs this year, will carry a 3.11 ERA and 1.04 WHIP into Saturday’s start against the Phillies. May.
Cain has averaged seven innings and 1.3 runs allowed over his last three starts while exceeding 100 pitches each time, a sign that he has built stamina in his legs and his arm after surgery to remove a cyst shortened his spring.
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The Giants look to win a sixth straight start made by Madison Bumgarner on Sunday against the visiting Chicago Cubs. They’re also 5-0 in his last five outings following a quality start in his last appearance and are 10-1 in his last 11 outings versus a National League Central opponent.
